iPad Air or Mini Retina

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Which one would you buy for music purposes?

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I sold the mini and purchased a iPad Air last friday :) My eyes are too old for 7.9" and having more screen size is greatly welcome.

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Yesterday Tempo Rubato (of NLog, Nave, iSEM fame) tweeted the following advice, which I think is sound: "Consumption device -> iPad mini retina, Creation device -> iPad Air."

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for music creation and pdf's (great for rtfm'ing) the larger pad is where it's at

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I got the ipad air 128 gigs. It's freaking awesome. I also bought the lightning to usb camera adapter and my cheap oxygen 25 is now plugged in it. Totally blow away. Using audiobus, I'm playing synths sent through jamup xt effect. Seriously crazy.

I urge anyone to get setup like this!!
Stuck in Aperture Laboratories for a 2nd time!

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Still thinkig because I travel a lot. But I need to make music as well.

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This past week, I got the iPad Air to replace the "New iPad/iPad 4" model from March. I also got the 128GB model. There are four major bonuses to the new model I'm already a fan of: display, weight, size and speed. The new iPad Air has a crisper screen than the previous model with Retina. The slightly smaller form factor makes holding it much easier and with less fatigue. The new processor is really speedy.

Using both on a plane/traveling with a lightning-USB connector to my Korg Minikey 25 works well. I don't recommend the Mini (even when the retina comes out), it's just a bit too small (at least for me). Here's why, it's great for reading things like you would a paperback book. Up close and intimate, you really get into the device. But when you're playing/making music, you'll be distanced more by the way you are interacting with it. The bigger screen makes that experience better.

Given there is likely to be very scarce supply of Mini Retina's, I'd go Air all the way with the largest capacity you can afford. Now both models have the same base processor, so app performance / multitasking won't be an issue with either one.

Best of luck!

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superscan wrote:with the largest capacity you can afford.
Depends on what you do with the iPad. I use it as a control surface & for synth apps, that I sequence with my laptop. I have a 16GB iPad 2, any more storage would have been (a lot) of money wasted.

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Just to toss in a contrasting opinion...

I've used a 1st gen iPad Mini for all my music production up until now. I love the small size... You see the same amount of stuff on the screen since its resolution is matched to the larger iPads, although it's just a tiny bit more squished together ;)

But that's a small trade-off for the extra portability and light weight. I love being able to hold my Mini in one hand for long stretches comfortably. It's easier to use on my lap or in my car where I do a lot of my production (not driving of course!). I have no problem playing keys on it or anything like that. Plus it's cheaper.

I recently sold my 1st gen Mini and am buying a new Retina Mini to replace it. If anyone WANTS the Mini but is concerned that it's too small for music production, I'd say it is not by any means. Unless you have poor eyesight, it's just fine. If you value portability, it's the perfect mobile music solution.

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jesse_ohio wrote:Just to toss in a contrasting opinion...

I've used a 1st gen iPad Mini for all my music production up until now. I love the small size... You see the same amount of stuff on the screen since its resolution is matched to the larger iPads, although it's just a tiny bit more squished together ;)

But that's a small trade-off for the extra portability and light weight. I love being able to hold my Mini in one hand for long stretches comfortably. It's easier to use on my lap or in my car where I do a lot of my production (not driving of course!). I have no problem playing keys on it or anything like that. Plus it's cheaper.

I recently sold my 1st gen Mini and am buying a new Retina Mini to replace it. If anyone WANTS the Mini but is concerned that it's too small for music production, I'd say it is not by any means. Unless you have poor eyesight, it's just fine. If you value portability, it's the perfect mobile music solution.
I have the Air, and even though I love the lighter weight and speed, I'm starting to regret it. My kids use our iPad mini, and I like the size of it quite a bit. Perhaps I should have waited for the retina Mini. Ah well.

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I love the mini size too, and wish i could justify upgrading my current mini to the retina mini with the nicer processor and screen. You can hold it vertically with one hand, you can reach all the keys with your thumbs while holding horizontally, and it fits in the back pocket of all but one of my pairs of jeans. Regular size ipad has always been too big and bulky for my taste

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strode420 wrote:Regular size ipad has always been too big and bulky for my taste
Me too. Though I love my iPad 2 and know how to take fully advantage of it, I look forward to my iPad mini retina, which according to my order confirmation should arrive between 25/11 and 2/12. Don't expect the smaller screen to be a problem for music production to me.

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I am definitely upgrading soon from iPad 2 64GB to iPad Air 128 GB. Been a couple years using my iPad 2 and running out of space. I have 22GB of samples stored within Beatmaker 2 alone, an unquenchable addiction to iPad synths, use it for my guitar amps exclusively, and a growing iTunes music collection. Hardly a day goes by that I'm not using my iPad. I look forward to the boost in performance and lighter weight.

Getting my money's worth out of it will never be in question.
"I am a meat popsicle"
Soundcloud Vondragonnoggin
Soundclick Wormhelmet

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I bought myself an iPad Mini Retina Display 64GB for using on the move since I was impressed by the power of my 128GB iPad Air. However I am getting audio breakup on my Mini Retina Display when working on Cubasis that I am not getting on my iPad Air. The audio breakup happens when I select the stop button on Cubasis after listening to a track which contains 5 IAA instruments. Could the mini's 1.3 Ghz A7 chip compared to the Air's 1.4Ghz A7 chip be the reason?

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Artmuzz wrote:I bought myself an iPad Mini Retina Display 64GB for using on the move since I was impressed by the power of my 128GB iPad Air. However I am getting audio breakup on my Mini Retina Display when working on Cubasis that I am not getting on my iPad Air. The audio breakup happens when I select the stop button on Cubasis after listening to a track which contains 5 IAA instruments. Could the mini's 1.3 Ghz A7 chip compared to the Air's 1.4Ghz A7 chip be the reason?
Hmm I'm interested to hear this as I'm about to pull the trigger on a 64 retina mini. Still 5 IAA not bad.. Any IAA FX in the session too?

It's nice that you have both to test against each other - sorry I can't help diagnose, but I'm interested to hear any conclusions! :)

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